|
Muttonchips posted:I'm considering switching careers, but I have never worked for anyone else before and have no idea how payroll taxes work. Do you mean you want to move to a self-employed / 1099 situation, or just change jobs? If you are just changing jobs there's not really anything special to do. You just fill out the forms HR gives you on your first day. At most, if your new job pays a lot less then you might want to setup your payroll deductions to withhold extra just be be sure. Self-employed is a whole other thing where you have to pay extra taxes and send estimated payments to the IRS. That's a situation where you might want to have an accountant walk you through it.
|
# ? May 27, 2016 20:10 |
|
|
# ? May 27, 2024 23:57 |
|
mrmcd posted:Do you mean you want to move to a self-employed / 1099 situation, or just change jobs? If you are just changing jobs there's not really anything special to do. You just fill out the forms HR gives you on your first day. At most, if your new job pays a lot less then you might want to setup your payroll deductions to withhold extra just be be sure. Right. I'm about to switch jobs. I'm self-employed currently and have a CPA to help do taxes. I'm going to work for a smaller company that doesn't have a HR department. I guess I'll find out! Thanks for the help.
|
# ? May 29, 2016 00:36 |
|
I've been on strike for the last 7 weeks, and as part of that I have been receiving strike relief checks from the union. No one seems to know if/how to claim these on taxes. I received $1600 total in strike relief payments. A portion of the dues I pay to the union (post-tax) goes into the member relief fund, which is then drawn on to pay our relief checks. The last time we were on strike, I don't remember receiving any kind of documentation about the payments, but we only received a single $200 check. I've heard a variety of answers: - Since the dues are post-tax, and it's money you've paid out in dues that goes into the fund, you don't pay any taxes on the checks. It's like a bank account. - You only have to pay taxes on the amount you received from the MRF in excess of the amount you paid into it. No clue how I would figure that out. - It's income, and you should treat it as income. Expect to pay taxes on it. In this scenario, I don't know how I would claim it. It's not job income, not a gift, not winnings, etc. I'm assuming I'd receive some kind of form? I'm starting from the assumption that I should probably be paying some kind of tax on this. Anyone know for sure?
|
# ? Jun 1, 2016 23:48 |
|
Aren't union dues tax deductible?
|
# ? Jun 2, 2016 15:45 |
|
They're a miscellaneous deduction on Schedule A subject to a 2% of AGI floor. So they're only deductible if you itemize and only if they (and your other miscellaneous deductions) exceed 2% of your gross income. My thoughts are that the strike-pay would be taxable income, since it's basically a replacement for wages you would have earned. You could then attempt to deduct the union fees on your schedule A.
|
# ? Jun 2, 2016 16:25 |
|
https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-076-014.html posted:4.76.14.3.5.1 (08-30-2010) Presumably the labor organization is directing you to strike and thus it's subject to tax withholding, but it's not totally clear when the second statement (" not as remuneration for services performed by an employee for his employer") would apply. It seems like your union ought to be withholding taxes for you if they're subject to taxes, so someone there should know the answer.
|
# ? Jun 2, 2016 17:03 |
|
Thanks guys, that gives me something to start from. I know there isn't anything on the check stubs about withholding, so my guess is that I should make sure to put something away to pay tax on it. I'm trying to get the contact info for the accounting people, rather than just going by whatever my union rep thinks.
|
# ? Jun 2, 2016 23:40 |
|
Anyone know, if you make excess contributions to a Roth IRA and have to pay the penalty on them, can you get those penalties waived or abated?
|
# ? Jun 3, 2016 03:25 |
|
sullat posted:Anyone know, if you make excess contributions to a Roth IRA and have to pay the penalty on them, can you get those penalties waived or abated? The IRS would not typically grant that.
|
# ? Jun 3, 2016 03:52 |
|
So like in my previous post, my wife's employer is pretty shady. She heard about an ex-employee call in about getting a letter from the IRS saying they owed more earlier this week. Today we got a letter in the mail saying we reported witholding $4,468, but the State can only verify from EDD that we witheld $4,039, and we owe another $429 that's due in 2 weeks. I double checked both of our W-2's, and it adds up to $4,468, and we strongly suspect that my wife's employer shorted the CA tax board. Is it easy to get this all straightened out? Also, she has a new job already lined up. Is there anything she can do to make sure she get's a copy of her W-2 for 2016 before she leaves? A lot of the people who got laid off last year struggled getting their 2015 W-2.
|
# ? Jun 4, 2016 04:40 |
|
nm
Skinnymansbeerbelly fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jun 5, 2016 |
# ? Jun 5, 2016 07:31 |
|
I have a question about form 8283. Basically, I moved, and donated a fuckton of good stuff to goodwill. Easily above $500 worth of revenue that Goodwill is going to make on that stuff, and $500 is the threshold where you have to do form 8283. My question is, for anyone who has used that form before, is it worth it? I could probably estimate all the stuff I donated at about $1,000-1,500, which basically means an extra $200-300 off of my taxes. If instead I only claim $499 (and therefore don't need to bother with the form), then I save about $100 off of my taxes. So how much does the IRS scrutinize the form? Again I'm not being dishonest to the IRS at all, but rather wondering if saving an extra 100-200 is worth the risk of possibly having to expend some effort answering IRS questions down the line, or even prove things (which I really can't, since Goodwill doesn't write your items into the receipt they give you). Also, why does the form only have space for 5 items? I guess I could categorize my donations, like Clothing, Kitchenware, Electronics, etc?
|
# ? Jun 11, 2016 16:08 |
|
alnilam posted:I have a question about form 8283. Basically, I moved, and donated a fuckton of good stuff to goodwill. Easily above $500 worth of revenue that Goodwill is going to make on that stuff, and $500 is the threshold where you have to do form 8283. Generally speaking, stuff you donate to Goodwill is worth far less than you think it is. You can categorize things into groups on the form 8283, and submit more than one if you need to. That being said, if you donated a truckload of stuff, or lots of furniture, you might hit the $500 dollar threshold. I use this from the Goodwill site to calculate everything.
|
# ? Jun 11, 2016 17:04 |
Yeah donations are worth 1/10th of what people think they are actually worth usually, unless you specifically bought a brand new item and had it shipped directly to the charity in it's original packaging or whatever you should not be deducting anything within a mile of it's retail price. The charity mileage deduction sucks too, they should really up that IMHO.
|
|
# ? Jun 12, 2016 23:44 |
|
I mean I shop a lot at goodwill myself and I'm vaguely aware of what they charge for stuff, and I'm still pretty sure I donated over $500 worth of stuff. Thanks for the info though, I have a while to decide if I want to bother claiming more than $500 but I might not.
|
# ? Jun 12, 2016 23:47 |
|
I wanted to confirm my understanding of this situation: For the first 6 months of the year, I was an employee of a foreign company residing abroad (I qualified for the FEIE via physical presence). For the latter six months of the year, I will still be an employee of the same company, but residing in the US and working remotely. The company is pretty small. My understanding is that for the first six months of the year, I am subject to income tax but not to medicare/social security taxes. I'm not sure how to report this, though. The IRS lists a bunch of rules under which you might be subject to SS/MC taxes, and I don't meet any of them, nor was I self-employed. For the second six months of the year, I understand that I am subject to SS/MC tax because my work is performed in the US (albeit for a foreign employer). However, my employer will not register in the US or withhold any of those taxes. In that case, do I then have to file as "self employed" even though I am not, in fact, "self employed"?
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 20:28 |
|
kaishek posted:I wanted to confirm my understanding of this situation: Not an accountant so I might be wrong, but the Physical Presence Test requires almost an entire year abroad before you quailify. At least that's what TurboTax explained to me when I took it and this IRS site seems to confirm it. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion-physical-presence-test
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 21:08 |
|
Ur Getting Fatter posted:Not an accountant so I might be wrong, but the Physical Presence Test requires almost an entire year abroad before you quailify. The physical presence test is in a 12 month period, but that 12 month period doesn't need to align with the US tax year so if he was in that country in the previous year he may qualify.
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 21:31 |
|
Edit: wrong thread.
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 21:49 |
|
asur posted:The physical presence test is in a 12 month period, but that 12 month period doesn't need to align with the US tax year so if he was in that country in the previous year he may qualify. Correct, I lived there in the preceding year, so I qualify. This is the year I moved home, so it's pro-rated for just the six months-ish that I was overseas.
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 21:58 |
|
My buddy and I started a company and did our first job before the company was finished being registered with the government and we had an EIN. For payment I had to write down my personal SS on the w9. My question is, how can I do an income transfer to my new company, and since i have to pay the people that worked with me quickly; is there something I can fill out to show that its been paid and not personal or company income? Let me know!
|
# ? Jun 13, 2016 22:28 |
|
bows1 posted:My buddy and I started a company and did our first job before the company was finished being registered with the government and we had an EIN. Option 1 - If you get a 1099, the IRS computers will be looking at your personal return for the full gross income amount listed on the 1099. You are then forced to list the income (usually line 21, "other income") and have a second line as a subtraction (Less: Nominee to XX-XXXXXXX) to net out to zero for that item. Otherwise the IRS computers will flag you and issue a matching notice. Option 2 - contact your customer and give them a new W-9 with the correct info.
|
# ? Jun 14, 2016 23:41 |
|
Thank you!
|
# ? Jun 15, 2016 01:27 |
|
kaishek posted:I wanted to confirm my understanding of this situation: I hate to self-bump, but is this the kind of thing I just need to talk to a tax professional about? It seems like there is very little about this online - there's a lot about americans abroad, but not about this situation.
|
# ? Jun 15, 2016 16:43 |
|
kaishek posted:I hate to self-bump, but is this the kind of thing I just need to talk to a tax professional about? It seems like there is very little about this online - there's a lot about americans abroad, but not about this situation. You probably do have to talk to a tax professional for a clear answer. I would expect that you'd have to pay the self-employment rate for SS and Medicare taxes. The SS and Medicare tax rate is 15.3%, employees only get a "break" and pay 7.65% because their employer is required to pay half of the tax. If your employer isn't required to pay their half and isn't expected to by the IRS, that leaves only you to pay the other 7.65%. Unless there's a mechanism for you to only get credited for half of your half-year of income for SS and Medicare benefits to account for you only paying in half of the 15.3%, I don't see a way you'd get out of not paying self-employment tax, which is just the full SS and Medicare tax rate.
|
# ? Jun 16, 2016 04:44 |
|
Ancillary Character posted:You probably do have to talk to a tax professional for a clear answer. I would expect that you'd have to pay the self-employment rate for SS and Medicare taxes. The SS and Medicare tax rate is 15.3%, employees only get a "break" and pay 7.65% because their employer is required to pay half of the tax. If your employer isn't required to pay their half and isn't expected to by the IRS, that leaves only you to pay the other 7.65%. I try to avoid foreign taxes, but IIRC it depends on the country you're in, the tax treaty they have with the US, and whether you're paying into an "equivalent" social security system of said foreign country. Someone with more experience can chime in if they'd like.
|
# ? Jun 16, 2016 16:37 |
|
Ancillary Character posted:You probably do have to talk to a tax professional for a clear answer. I would expect that you'd have to pay the self-employment rate for SS and Medicare taxes. The SS and Medicare tax rate is 15.3%, employees only get a "break" and pay 7.65% because their employer is required to pay half of the tax. If your employer isn't required to pay their half and isn't expected to by the IRS, that leaves only you to pay the other 7.65%. Have to ask a more experienced tax pro who's not away from his reference info like me, but I'm fairly sure you do NOT treat it as self employment income, there's a special form for social security/Medicare taxes not withheld by employer that would apply. Wish I could give you form number but I'm on vacation at moment, will see if I can find it next week if I get choice.
|
# ? Jun 17, 2016 22:26 |
|
Thanks everyone for their advice. I had hoped that after paying a pro $1300 this year to fill out my expat tax return I could go it alone this year using last year as a guide. But I guess this year will be even more complicated.
|
# ? Jun 17, 2016 22:53 |
|
Can someone please explain why the IRS keeps kicking back my education credit claims? In 2011, I claimed the AOC, including all the correct information on my 1098T. A year and a half later, they sent me a letter telling me what I reported differs from what the school reported. I send in my 1098T again, and eventually they just inform me the matter is closed and bill me for over $2k. I claimed the Lifetime learning credit in 2014, and they just kicked that back saying that despite paying $3,700 in tuition that year, my credit is 0. I'm not looking for anyone to do my taxes for me, but what gives? Moneyball fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Jun 18, 2016 |
# ? Jun 18, 2016 01:13 |
|
Send them proof that you actually paid the amounts as opposed to the 1098-T which just says that you were billed that much.
|
# ? Jun 18, 2016 07:05 |
|
I have a question about this part of the W-4 I claim exemption from withholding for 2016 , and I certify that I meet both of the following conditions for exemption. Last year I had a right to a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I had no tax liability and This year I expect a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I expect to have no tax liability. Last year I got all of my withholdings back as a refund because my education credit covered it. This year, calculating my tax burden with the IRS calculator website, it looks like this year's education credit is going to cover everything, even if my income suddenly doubled. Does "no tax liability" mean I wouldn't owe anything without the credit, or that I won't owe anything after the credits? I'm inclined to claim exemption, but I don't want the IRS to come by, say I don't qualify, and fine me out the rear end for it.
|
# ? Jun 25, 2016 03:04 |
|
22 Eargesplitten posted:I have a question about this part of the W-4 Double-checked, here's Publication 505's bit on tax liability (still written for 2014, but rules haven't changed to my knowledge): quote:No Tax Liability Last Year So looks like if you don't owe taxes due to a credit expected you're fine.
|
# ? Jun 27, 2016 08:33 |
|
Sweet, thanks. It's not much extra money, but it's something, and it gets me more overall since I only get 40% of the surplus from the tax credit.
|
# ? Jun 27, 2016 17:38 |
|
I'm a little confused about write-offs for mileage. I DJ and do production for events so I do have to drive to these events around my city and occasionally to other cities. A lot of my office-work is done from my house. From what I understand, I can't write-off mileage for commuting from my house to an office but I can write-off mileage for traveling from one office to another. So if I'm working an event around my city, I can write off that mileage, correct? That wouldn't be considered commuting, right?
|
# ? Jun 28, 2016 22:18 |
|
I'm a US citizen and have been working abroad since January. I'm working for a local company, being paid in the local currency, and will pay income taxes to this country. I understand that I need to report my income to the IRS nonetheless but I have the option to claim the FEIE (I don't earn anywhere close to $100k) or a foreign tax credit. How do I decide which one is more tax advantageous for me? Also I just found out that I apparently need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS since my employer isn't withholding US taxes for me. Apparently the first payment was due in April. Oops. I wasn't expecting to pay any federal income taxes to the IRS so I just never thought about it but 1040-ES seems to want me to estimate my quarterly payments based on my 2015 income which was entirely in the US and my 2015 salary is more than 200% my current salary, so that just seems really dumb to me to use my 2015 income to estimate my 2016 taxes (where I'll expect to owe $0 to the IRS). What do I need to do to avoid being fined for negligence?
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 11:00 |
|
Boris Galerkin posted:I'm a US citizen and have been working abroad since January. I'm working for a local company, being paid in the local currency, and will pay income taxes to this country. I understand that I need to report my income to the IRS nonetheless but I have the option to claim the FEIE (I don't earn anywhere close to $100k) or a foreign tax credit. How do I decide which one is more tax advantageous for me? In order to avoid penalties for underpayment, you have to pay at least as much in taxes as you paid last year OR within 10% of your tax liability for this year. So you could get away with paying as close as possible to your estimated taxes for this year. You did, however, also miss the second 1040-ES deadline, June 15. But if you're living abroad the full year, and being paid much less than $100k, your tax liability is likely to be $0 or pretty close to it, so it may not matter. In order to figure out which of the two is more advantageous, you'd need to figure out your US tax liability (as though you weren't living abroad). If your foreign tax liability is higher, that may be the more beneficial credit for you. The FEIE (for your first year, probably based on physical presence) requires that you not be in the US for 330 days out of a 365 day period, so if you're traveling back into the US much you may fail to qualify.
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 15:49 |
|
kaishek posted:In order to avoid penalties for underpayment, you have to pay at least as much in taxes as you paid last year OR within 10% of your tax liability for this year. So you could get away with paying as close as possible to your estimated taxes for this year. Right, so let's assume I take the FEIE which gives me an AGI of $0 so I'd owe nothing for 2016 to the IRS. How do I handle the estimated payments then? Can I just ignore them until I file taxes in April or do I still need to do something stupid like mailing them the quarterly forms with $0 written on a check? I'm pretty sure I'd pass the physical presence test for residency either way but I was going to try to claim "bona fide residence" instead. The documents (I forgot which one now, 54 sound familiar? The one for US persons abroad.) are not very explicit about how I can claim bona fide residency abroad. I mean, it basically said something like "you can claim bona fide residency if you work abroad but plan on returning the the US, someday, as long as you set up a tax home there and can demonstrate a good reason." I plan on living here for at least 5 years and I have literally no property of any sorts left in the US so I figured that would pass.
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 19:06 |
|
Boris Galerkin posted:Right, so let's assume I take the FEIE which gives me an AGI of $0 so I'd owe nothing for 2016 to the IRS. How do I handle the estimated payments then? Can I just ignore them until I file taxes in April or do I still need to do something stupid like mailing them the quarterly forms with $0 written on a check? My understanding of this (not a tax attorney, but talked to one about this issue) is that for the FEIE unless you lived in said foreign country from midnight on New Year's Day to midnight on New Year's Eve, you need to claim physical presence. So if you lived abroad for 5 years, your first year and your last year abroad you'd claim physical presence, and all the years in between you can claim bona fide residence. In your case, you said you moved in January, so unless by "January" you meant "December 31 of the preceding year" you'd probably need to do physical presence. But, as you point out, you'll likely owe nothing. In that case, I believe that you can safely not pay estimated taxes because your estimated tax burden is $0. Just don't forget to file by June 15, the extended deadline for those living abroad.
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 20:51 |
|
Boris Galerkin posted:Right, so let's assume I take the FEIE which gives me an AGI of $0 so I'd owe nothing for 2016 to the IRS. How do I handle the estimated payments then? Can I just ignore them until I file taxes in April or do I still need to do something stupid like mailing them the quarterly forms with $0 written on a check? The penalty isn't calculated until you file with an amount due. No amount due, no penalty.
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 22:39 |
|
|
# ? May 27, 2024 23:57 |
|
keevo posted:I'm a little confused about write-offs for mileage. I DJ and do production for events so I do have to drive to these events around my city and occasionally to other cities. A lot of my office-work is done from my house. From what I understand, I can't write-off mileage for commuting from my house to an office but I can write-off mileage for traveling from one office to another. So if I'm working an event around my city, I can write off that mileage, correct? That wouldn't be considered commuting, right? The question here is, do you have a specific set aside office area in your home that you claim expenses for? The area in question has to be set aside solely for the use of business and used regularly for that purpose. I stress solely because the IRS can in fact audit that by way of sending an agent to your door and demanding to see the space in question, and even things like having kid's toys in the area can get you in trouble. Now "if you do have such a home office and claim expenses on it, then traveling from home to a event is business miles because you are traveling from one place of business (the home office) to another. If you do not, then what counts as business miles is travel between work sites, so if you go from one event to another work site directly that would be business miles and deductible. Travel between home and the first event and from the last event to home would be commuting miles and not count. (OK, spell check, autocorrecting that last "home" to "help me" was a little disturbing...)
|
# ? Jun 29, 2016 23:41 |